News

Celtic 0 Hearts 2: Burchill haunts sorry Celtic

SOMETHING was always going to have to give in this Premierleague title race, but nobody could have envisaged Celtic being as generous as this. Martin O’Neill, the club’s manager, always insists there is no such thing as a routine Premierleague fixture. He will take no pleasure in having been proved right here as Hearts claimed their first Parkhead win since February 5, 2000, when John Barnes — remember him? — was in charge of Celtic.

The standard gameplan for any team coming to Celtic Park is to avoid conceding in the first 20 minutes. Hearts had a more radical idea yesterday; not only did they prevent Celtic scoring, but they only went and scored twice themselves. There should have been time enough for Celtic to recover, but their oddly directionless players looked lost long before they were beaten. The 2002-03 season was decided on the final day, but its real turning point